The best way to celebrate your 29th birthday is with some good old cheesecake mastery. I know it, you know it, everyone knows it.

The official Leangains Cheesecake (TM) weighing in at a respectable 7 lbs.

This one was au naturel. No cherries, no blueberries, no raspberries, no nothing. A no bullshit cheesecake. I actually prefer it that way because I want to be able to add whatever I damn please. Whipping cream, peanut butter, more whipping cream, etc.

I tried it with protein fluff this time around. Fits perfect. The protein fluff above is made with blackberries by the way. I should probably do a protein fluff special some time. Making perfect fluff is an art and my techniques have evolved by leaps and bounds.

In a state of pure bliss...

I have to admit though, I didn't eat the whole cake. First of all, I wanted to save a few slices for my buddies. Second of all, I just got too damn full. I had to spread it out over two days. Yeah, I'm getting old...

By the way, don't ask about the cheesecake recipe. It's a family secret. I might give it away some day but it won't be here and now. Mom would strangle me.

Thank You

Thanks to everyone who congratulated me on Facebook, Twitter, in blog comments and emails.Though I couldn't reply to everyone, I appreciate each and every one of the hundreds of birthday wishes I received.

I also want to give a special thanks to everyone who has donated to my site so far. It's good to see that people appreciate my site and the time I've put into my articles. Like I wrote earlier, I will reward several donors in the near future.

P.S. You haven't seen the cheesecake mastery of Christmas yet...But rest assured it's coming. The reason for the delay is a conflict with The Cheesecake Council. The elders argue that the documentation surrounding the events that evening must not be revealed to the public. But I will get my will through, you can count on that.

Happy Birthday and great cheescake...I'm on the IF for 1,5 months now and loving it. Will donate as soon as my paycheck arrives after all you saved me a nutrcionist, a personal trainer and a lot of bullshit from other guys...Thanksenjoy your day.

that cheesecake is absolutely beautiful....couldn't ask for something better. Happy Birthday again

Btw, I think you've reached a new level of cheesecake mastery.......you no longer have to finish the whole thing to be a master, you instead share your skills and cake with others........truly the highest level of mastery :)

Fair enough if you don't want to disclose the recipe, but for once, please tell us all what is that white layer on top of the cheesecake? Not the "LG" whipped cream, but the slightly browned layer that sits directly above the actual cheesecake. Roasted marshmallows?

Love the site, you are doing some great things man. I was actually kindof happy to see the photo of you in this thread, as I can see that you actually have some acne. I've been jealous this whole time of you eating these epic cheesecakes with no breakouts. One reason I've gone paleo is for clearer skin, and it's worked wonders. One of those cheesecakes would turn my face into a nightmare.

Well, it absolutely would for me. I can eat butter, sour cream and whipping cream to my heart's content. But cheese, milk... not to mention sugar and most grains... BAM pizza face. Fortunately I am quite handy in the kitchen and never run out of awesome meal ideas. They often resemble the meals you've posted before- meat, veggies. My big thing is making epic sauces- fresh herbs, vinegar/stock/wine reductions, homemade mayo and sour cream... all make some excellent sauces.

Hey Martin,off topic, but do you ever have your clients take a break from dieting by eating in caloric surplus or maintenace for a couple weeks if progress has stalled? Or would you say that the spiked calories/carbs on training days handles this (despite a weekly deficit)? Great blog by the way, it has changed my life and I understand if you don't want to elaborate.....

Martin, hate to dish on your birthday post, but here me out on this...One your site, a "reccomended reading" is "Burn the fat, Feed the muscle" by Tom Venuto. I love reading, so I downloaded the book and read it. Well I got to the chapter on meal frequency, and yup, I heard a whole entire speal on 6 meals a day, increased metabolism, this and that. It even referred to 16 hours starving and 8 hours stuffing as being a sure way to gain fat. So yeah, i'm a little confused on way you reccomended this reading??$$??

Nomina, you need to read the articles on this website before asking questions like that, no offense. Everyone needs to put in a little effort or else the site will get bombarded with repetitive questions that are already answered in the blog.

I think the article on early morning fasted training linked from the Lean Gains Guide will answer your question.